On August 26th we honored two World War II Coast Guard mascots for International Dog Day.
The first is Spar. Featured here wearing her dress blues, complete with first class yeoman rating, campaign ribbons which she earned and wings for her plane jump. Spar in this photo is a two-year-old Boston Bull Dog who was born to sail the sea. She shipped out as a pup and served the Coast Guard on the combat Cutter SPENCER during World War II at the time it sank a German sub in battle on the North Atlantic. Spar once bailed out of a crippled airplane over Newfoundland in the arms of her master CG Coxswain Harold L. Mottard. In addition to action at sea, Spar enjoyed going ashore between voyages and sampling waterfront beverage emporiums.
The USCGC SPENCER (WPC-36) was built in 1936 at the New York Navy Yard. She was decommissioned in 1974 and sold for scrap in 1981.
The second mascot is Sinbad. Sinbad served on the CG combat Cutter CAMPBELL and has a record – not just for good conduct. While the CAMPBELL was docked in Sicily, Sinbad went over the hill. When the CAMPBELL was set to leave, he was AWOL. His ship sailed without him. But don’t worry, a week later he was nabbed by the Shore Police. Sinbad was shipped off on a destroyer and reunited with his crew at an east coast port. Sinbad was legendary for his good conduct as well as the 310,000 miles of sea duty and visits to scores of foreign ports. Sinbad’s AWOL adventure sent him before the Captain’s mast and his sentence denied him liberty in future foreign ports.
The USCGC CAMPBELL (WPG-32) was built in 1936 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She was decommissioned in 1982 and sunk in 1984 as a target ship in the mid Pacific Ocean.
Suzette Lopez
Photos and information provided by Coast Guard 1944 press releases.
